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Pontinus macrocephalus

Palu Nou (PK)

Largehead Scorpionfish

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult (Pukapuka)	33KB
Image:	Adult	16KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Largehead Scorpionfish

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Palu Nou (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Indonesia - Cooks, Hawai‘i; n. to s.Japan, s. to New Caledonia

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group and N.Group; Marine, near-shore, deepbottom (150 - 300m)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous spines - very serious

KEY FEATURES: To 50cmSL. Oval body, with large protruding eye. Bright orange and reddish with darker mottling, paler below. A long head with scattered spines, a large protruding eye, and large slightly angled mouth.

Enlarged Image of 'Pontinus macrocephalus'

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++TP						P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
+			+

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Pests & Hosts

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Relationship	Hosts
Venomous - spines	Homo sapiens,

Scientific Taxonomy

Pontinus macrocephalus (Sauvage, 1882)
SYNONYMS: Sebastes macrocephalus

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Scorpaeniformes; Scorpaenoidei; SCORPAENIDAE, Scorpaeninae

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: several specimens deep hand-line Sims (Sims88). Tongareva: several, hand-line (T&P85). Pukapuka: specimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack, to BPBM, ID J.Randall as Pontinus macrocephalus, 5/2004.

References:
Special Reference: see Tinker, Fishes of Hawaii 1978: p423.

p.146 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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